T
twangbuck
New member
Ok, so I recorded a couple of demos in a buddy's studio. He's running Cubase LE 5 on a windows 7 machine (64 bit) with a zoom recorder for an interface. He uses a roland digital drum set, sometimes an acoustic drum set, and he has a couple of decent mics to record vocals and guitar, but I couldn't tell you what they are (he also has other mics to record his acoustic drums, but again I don't know what they are).
I was immediately impressed with the clarity and overall sound quality he got on his recordings. Sure they aren't "professional studio quality," nor was I expecting them to be, but they were the best, clearest sounding demos I'd ever been a part of.
He did not go nuts with effects either. Little bit of reverb and compression, but not much else on anything.
I then started to think how I could get a set up that was similar but that could fit within my much tighter budget.
I got a pc w/windows 7, but 32 bit. I installed 4 gb of ram, which I know isn't much but it's holding up well w/minimal drop outs and on one song I have probably 17 tracks, many with various fx/eq's going (though again, pretty subtle on the fx).
I have a focusrite scarlet 2i4 for an interface, a shure sm58 for the guitars and vocals, and I borrowed a $100 shure condenser mic from a friend of mine to record an acoustic guitar. I'm recording my electric guitar w an sm58 (same guitars, amp and pedals I used at his place).
I'm running the bass direct, like I did at my buddy's house.
I’m using Audacity to convert to mp3.
All in all, when I'm listening to the tracks pre-mix down on my headphones or through my home stereo with my Infinity speakers, it sounds very nice. When I mix it down to an mp3, however, the clarity just isn't there. I mean, it doesn't sound "muddy" and I can differentiate all the instruments, it just all in all sounds very lo-fi if you know what I mean. That real crystal clear clarity my buddy got just isn’t there.
Also, I’m not even comparing my stuff to his fully mastered demos. Even compared to his unmastered mp3’s that he burned for me, the clarity in my set up just isnt’ there like it was with his.
So, what’s the first thing I should do to gain something more in terms of clarity? I’m thinking it’s either upgrade the interface or get better mics. Obviously both are needs, but which is the first step? I’m considering as a first step selling the scarlett, getting a similar zoom as my buddy has, and then once the holidays come around and my wife needs an idea for a present to get me, I go on ebay and see what kind of good diaphragm condenser mics are out there for vocals, and ask her to make that my Christmas present. Then I spend a few bucks on a used sm57 to record electrics, then maybe down the road get a good condenser to record acoustic guitars.
Thoughts?
I was immediately impressed with the clarity and overall sound quality he got on his recordings. Sure they aren't "professional studio quality," nor was I expecting them to be, but they were the best, clearest sounding demos I'd ever been a part of.
He did not go nuts with effects either. Little bit of reverb and compression, but not much else on anything.
I then started to think how I could get a set up that was similar but that could fit within my much tighter budget.
I got a pc w/windows 7, but 32 bit. I installed 4 gb of ram, which I know isn't much but it's holding up well w/minimal drop outs and on one song I have probably 17 tracks, many with various fx/eq's going (though again, pretty subtle on the fx).
I have a focusrite scarlet 2i4 for an interface, a shure sm58 for the guitars and vocals, and I borrowed a $100 shure condenser mic from a friend of mine to record an acoustic guitar. I'm recording my electric guitar w an sm58 (same guitars, amp and pedals I used at his place).
I'm running the bass direct, like I did at my buddy's house.
I’m using Audacity to convert to mp3.
All in all, when I'm listening to the tracks pre-mix down on my headphones or through my home stereo with my Infinity speakers, it sounds very nice. When I mix it down to an mp3, however, the clarity just isn't there. I mean, it doesn't sound "muddy" and I can differentiate all the instruments, it just all in all sounds very lo-fi if you know what I mean. That real crystal clear clarity my buddy got just isn’t there.
Also, I’m not even comparing my stuff to his fully mastered demos. Even compared to his unmastered mp3’s that he burned for me, the clarity in my set up just isnt’ there like it was with his.
So, what’s the first thing I should do to gain something more in terms of clarity? I’m thinking it’s either upgrade the interface or get better mics. Obviously both are needs, but which is the first step? I’m considering as a first step selling the scarlett, getting a similar zoom as my buddy has, and then once the holidays come around and my wife needs an idea for a present to get me, I go on ebay and see what kind of good diaphragm condenser mics are out there for vocals, and ask her to make that my Christmas present. Then I spend a few bucks on a used sm57 to record electrics, then maybe down the road get a good condenser to record acoustic guitars.
Thoughts?